Ep. 6 - Case Closed

Six hares flee through Rz’n’s shadows, the hounds more terrible for being unknown. Chanterelle stays positive.

Content Warnings: 

• This episode contains a depiction of chases, violence (magical and mundane), insect-like humanoids, description of insect appendages, description of injury, loss of control (suggestion spell and ambiguous curse/other effect that bars certain actions and speech), abandonment, crying/hysteria/panic (heavy breathing, no description of panic attack or other breakdown), and loss of home.

For full The Drifting City content warnings, please reference the Show Notes & Disclaimers linked at the bottom of the episode description.

The Drifting City is not affiliated with Wizards of the Coast.

Cast & Credits
Chrys: Lily Bell
Morin Wreaver: Aspen Langford
Orion Amaros: Porter Hurst
Rook Aarden: Victor Thorne
Valentine Bellana: Marilyn David
The Narrator: Ray Hamilton

Class & Subclass
Chrys: Coven of the Green Witch (find the class at: Worlds Beyond Number Patreon)
Morin Wreaver: Floater Ranger (Homebrew)
Orion Amaros: Echo Knight Fighter (find the subclass in Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount)
Rook Aarden: College of Spirits Bard (find the subclass in Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft)
Valentine Bellana: College of Hard Knocks Bard (Homebrew)

Editing, sound design, episode titles and descriptions by everyone at The Rolling Waves.

Intro & Outro Theme
“The Drifting City (Theme)”
Composed by Porter Hurst.
Performed by Porter Hurst, Victor Thorne, and the friends and family of The Rolling Waves.

S1E6 Music Credits:
A Caper Story by Martin Landstrom
Infinite Love by Vendla
All courtesy of Epidemic Sound.

S1E6 Sound Effect and Ambience Credits:
All courtesy of Epidemic Sound.

Show Notes and Disclaimers

Transcript

SPEAKER_10 0:01

The rolling waves present the drifting city.

SPEAKER_05 0:53

As the mist drifts up through grates in the streets outside, the air heavy with humidity. In a moment, that mist begins to coalesce. Steam thickening, pouring up through the grates in the street, creating a cloud of obfuscation in front of this door. And one by one, our groups run. Valentine and Orion taking off to the left. Morin and Ataria dashing straight down the street. And Rook and Chris dashing right. And in this moment, I need as a group check everyone to roll in deception. Yes.

SPEAKER_11 1:41

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 1:43

Deception because we're trying to confuse those who might pursue you.

SPEAKER_04 1:52

Could I argue performance?

SPEAKER_05 1:55

No, not for you.

SPEAKER_04 1:57

No, man.

SPEAKER_09 2:00

Also, I'm gonna use my knowledge from a past life ability.

SPEAKER_05 2:05

Okay, can you describe for the audience what that is?

SPEAKER_09 2:08

So it basically means it says when you make an ability check that uses a skill, you can roll a d6 immediately after seeing the number on the d20 and add the number on the d6 to the check.

SPEAKER_07 2:18

Nice. Alright.

SPEAKER_09 2:21

Because it's like sometimes Chris just gets things from either like maybe like a memory suddenly appears, or like maybe just something instinctually takes them over.

SPEAKER_05 2:36

What is it in this moment that fuels Chris's ability to be deceptive?

SPEAKER_09 2:42

Oh I I thought I didn't I I I I wouldn't know.

SPEAKER_05 2:46

I was just because Well tell me, is it uh more of a a memory or a feeling? Basically, is it instinct not tied to anything in particular, or do you think Chris would have a sense of some sort of memory?

SPEAKER_09 3:01

I feel like in this case, probably instinct, because this is very quick.

SPEAKER_05 3:04

That makes total sense. And in that moment, you feel yourself you know, calling on something instinctual within yourself to run just a little bit faster, keep your gait a little bit straighter, your posture, your shoulders back a little bit more like how a Teria holds them as you move. Can I get what everybody's results were?

SPEAKER_02 3:27

Twenty-five.

SPEAKER_00 3:31

Sixteen.

SPEAKER_05 3:34

What what was that for Brooke?

SPEAKER_04 3:37

Fifteen.

SPEAKER_05 3:38

Fifteen?

SPEAKER_09 3:42

Sixteen. Okay. And for Moran with a plus zero to deception, I wrote a Nat twenty.

SPEAKER_04 3:53

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 3:54

Okay. I love that for us. Okay. Let me do Okay. Let me factor in how the Nat twenty affects things.

SPEAKER_00 4:13

Fifteen plus sixteen, carry the Nat twenty.

SPEAKER_05 4:19

And then yeah. Valentine had the twenty-five. You guys take off running down these different streets. You run by and you cannot see the kid in the steam. You run right by wherever his position was and come out on the other side. In fact, the the fog cloud, radius-wise, just barely covers the two alleyways on either side of this building. Like the very edges. There's maybe on if they were leaning to one side or the other, they could see. But the sudden appearance and everything, you have an a good idea that you have some cover from the alleys in terms of their vision. And then suddenly these three groups take off in these different directions. Morin and Ateria taking off forward because you took that forward position and the alleyways were covered with their vision. You Morin grab Ateria and pull her in just the right way behind a passing trawler. You feel fairly confident that no one on the ground in these two alleyways could see that you even came through this cloud. Yes.

SPEAKER_09 5:48

Love to hear that.

SPEAKER_05 5:56

It's a nat 20. I'll give you some extra, some extra stank on it. For Rook and Chris, you guys are moving through. Very obvious and easy to see, but not very deceptive. You move through, Chris. Maybe your leg catches slightly. There's a little bit something to how you move. Uh as a pair, your average was the worst of the three. It's still good, but it was not necessarily as convincing as Orion and Valentine. Valentine with her 25 running off and to the left. And you guys move. You are taking off. There is not an immediate option for stealth. Uh I will I will give that actually, though, to Morin and Ateria as you move. If you guys would I'll I'll roll for Atteria, you roll for Morin. Going off the street.

SPEAKER_09 6:56

Actually, did my disguised self give me anything?

SPEAKER_05 6:58

Oh, you know what? Your disguised self would have given you advantage. Roll again.

SPEAKER_09 7:02

Oh, fantastic niece.

SPEAKER_05 7:03

Yeah, I didn't think about that. You're totally right.

SPEAKER_09 7:06

That's actually way better. That's a 19.

SPEAKER_05 7:08

With the extra stuff. With the extra? Okay, that's good. Not quite a 25, but that is better for sure. And the disguise self makes a big difference too. I had forgotten to factor that in. Thank you for reminding me. But I'll still let Morin and Ataria roll stealth going off of that nat 20.

SPEAKER_09 7:25

Stealth I can do.

SPEAKER_05 7:28

Okay.

SPEAKER_09 7:30

That's a 21 for Morin.

SPEAKER_05 7:32

Nice. Atteria got a 19. So you guys move through fairly stealthy down this street. I'd say, Morin, you're operating more so off of instinct. You see how that fog cloud came to be, and where you at all intended to rely purely on this deception and confusion. You realize that you have a great opportunity to actually just be stealthy. So you pivot, grab a Teria, pull her into an alley, move through and duck around through these side passages that you have just a deep-seated instinctual knowledge of how to get from one place to the other. And you have a pretty good sense that you are not immediately being followed as you move through. For the Orion Valentine group and the Chris Rook group, your deception was good, but it was not so good as to lead to stealth. So you guys are just booking it and running. And I am going to run some modified luck checks based on these results real quick to see what happens with these two groups.

SPEAKER_01 8:46

It's been good knowing you guys.

SPEAKER_05 8:48

Just so you guys know which die to hate, I'm gonna have blue be Orion Valentine and yellow be Chris and Rook.

SPEAKER_06 8:56

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 8:58

Okay. Okay. Chris and Valentine. Or not sorry. Orion and Valentine. You guys are next to each other on my screen, which is the problem. Orion and Valentine. Uh as you are running, go ahead and do perception checks with disadvantage. It's hard to be aware of your surroundings while careening down the street, but sure.

SPEAKER_01 9:21

Wait, perception sound check? Yes. Oh god. Oh no.

SPEAKER_10 9:27

With disadvantage? That's a natural one. Oh no.

SPEAKER_09 9:35

Quarter? I don't like that face.

SPEAKER_01 9:37

Well, you see.

SPEAKER_09 9:41

I do, but you don't.

SPEAKER_01 9:44

I'm going home. Um that's a 13.

unknown 9:49

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 9:50

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 9:51

A 13's better than a Nat 1. I'll say as Valentine stumbles slightly on this uneven, almost sheet plate layered over itself street. Uh, you know, she sort of has to pick herself back up. But that gives you just a moment, Orion, to throw a look over your shoulder. And you see chasing you down the street with let's call it uncanny speed is what was described to you as the shape. This figure has to be at least nine feet tall and probably half as wide in the shoulder. And as it runs, the cloak that it's wearing billows up because of the sheer speed to the point where it reaches up and with a clawed hand just simply goes up the front of the poncho, tearing through with its razor-sharp pincer and ripping it free, revealing an Antlin Itathcayan man. Uh Antlin are not terribly common, so he is massive. His beetle-like body is coated with armor plating, and his two sets of arms are probably each as thick at as at the bicep as probably Valentine is in the torso. And there are very flexible rotating joints with then pincers at the end of each of the arms, and they're all pumping like Terminator 2 as they are running down the street towards you. The mandibles on the Itithkai are clicking together in a fierce rhythm uh that is sending this clicking noise echoing through the streets. And as it runs, you see little bits of foam and saliva begin to collect and dribble from his mouth as he is chasing after you. And in this bare moment when you see this creature, you immediately turn, grab Valentine, and kick off back running as it is on your tail. And perhaps the scariest of the things you saw is taking off after you. Fully believing that Valentine is a Teria, you guess.

SPEAKER_04 12:40

I I I think I think it's a pincer maneuver.

SPEAKER_09 12:45

Oh my god. Victor, get off this call right now.

SPEAKER_05 12:50

It's like I am a one-man pincer maneuver.

SPEAKER_09 12:53

I mean it's probably for the best that that it's probably for the best that that thing is following one of the um also you can remember. Remember, you guys have a walkie-talkie.

SPEAKER_10 13:05

Yeah, I think I think as screaming as we get murdered.

SPEAKER_09 13:10

Yelling into Chantarelle's face.

SPEAKER_00 13:13

Yeah, I think I think what's Orion. I think what I'm doing is Orion kind of has Chantarell just like on his shoulder, so she's kind of just like hanging on to- You know how like a kid would sit on you know their parents' neck or something like that? I feel like Chantarell would kind of be there partially just because Orion's like, okay, if you like shank me in the arm or something like that, I think I can take a couple of those, but if you shank me in the leg and kill us, I can't recover from that. And so maybe as this is happening, Orion is going from like a okay, like that was a that was a pretty good start, and he cranes his neck and sees the shape just barreling towards and he's just like, Oh, oh Valentine, we gotta go!

SPEAKER_01 13:58

Oh, we gotta and and he's like turning around, he's like, hey, um, so uh Chantro, hey, thank you for not stabbing me so far.

SPEAKER_00 14:09

Still don't do it, not yet. And you just let Chris know that the the the thing, the the the shape is is that that's that's on us. We we got it, we got it. Um just can you let her know?

SPEAKER_05 14:25

Okay, Chris. In in your head, you hear suddenly this group is going to die.

SPEAKER_07 14:39

What do I gather from that? What exactly what Chanterell says? This sh this uh this group is going to die. Um the scary thing is chasing us. I might die too. I fear it not.

unknown 14:58

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_09 14:59

And then Chris in their head is like, well, I can revive you if you die.

SPEAKER_07 15:03

Well, that's why I'm not scared, right?

SPEAKER_05 15:08

How far away is the shape from us? I will say you guys got a head start of about 120 feet.

SPEAKER_02 15:17

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 15:18

Uh, what is your max speed per round, both of you?

SPEAKER_02 15:22

Oh god.

SPEAKER_10 15:23

30 feet, but I can do 60 if I'm dashing.

SPEAKER_05 15:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:27

Yeah, I'm 35 feet. I have 35 feet of movement, so dashing just doubles it, right?

SPEAKER_05 15:34

Yeah. So I've got 70. 70 per round. So you're actually having to be a little bit slower for Valentine. Uh, you get the sense that this thing is moving towards you with more like Orion's top speed. So it is not incredibly quick the catching up to you, but in a few rounds, it will have reached you. And you get the sense by the sheer size of him that this this boy, this bad boy has reach. So, um, he he is closing in over the course of the rounds. But in this moment, we'll go on over and follow up with Chris and Rook, who have taken off down the street. Chris has just gotten the message that Orion and Valentine are going to die. And Chris and Rook are running in the exact opposite direction that they are, putting distance between themselves and the apartment building. I'll have you guys do a perception check for me.

SPEAKER_09 16:42

Fantastic, because I'm proficient in that.

SPEAKER_04 16:43

So let's see.

SPEAKER_09 16:47

Can I can I do a guidance on myself, or is that that's not concentration, right?

SPEAKER_05 16:53

Guidance is concentration. Damn it.

SPEAKER_09 16:56

Okay. Okay, then I'm just gonna roll. Please. Ooh, that's fantastic news. 23.

SPEAKER_05 17:05

Nice!

SPEAKER_04 17:06

16.

SPEAKER_05 17:08

16. I'll say the 23. I'm gonna actually roll something. That did make the difference. Okay. With a 23, Chris, as you are running, I'll say actually first what Rook notices. Rook, you see behind you. Um, it appears that the two like non-child watchers, so this are the two guys in ponchos or whoever they were, are running after the two of you. They are pretty far behind and they're moving about the same speed that you are both moving. So as long as you just keep running, they're not, you're not in immediate danger of being overtaken. And you know the streets very well, and you're moving through, and you feel pretty good about this. You're having to take time to think, okay, how can we lose them, whatnot, but you're not in immediate, okay, we're we're in serious danger. Chris, with a 23, you see something out of the corner of your eye up on the roof. And that thing looks, seems to look down at the two of you, turns and looks in the direction that Ateria and Morin went and begins to move in that direction. Shh.

SPEAKER_09 18:30

Wait, I thought that they weren't seen.

SPEAKER_05 18:33

That's the impression they got with the roles that they had.

SPEAKER_04 18:36

Okay. Son of a oh my god. Okay.

SPEAKER_09 18:39

So Chris, Chris, as like, you maybe, I don't know if you're like, if you're like grabbing their wrist or their arm or whatever, but like Chris goes. Um, okay, two things. Uh one, Chanterelle has informed me that they are going to die um because the big one is with them, and two, there's someone on the roof heading toward um heading toward uh uh Lauren, which is bad.

SPEAKER_04 19:06

Very can I see it on the roof?

SPEAKER_05 19:08

Now that's been pointed out to you, go ahead and do a perception check with advantage. It's starting to run away, but that's a dirty 20. Beautiful. You just had to beat a 16. You turn and you you look where Chris is pointing, and you see a figure cloaked as the two behind you are cloaked, running and takes a flying leap off of the roof to go to the next roof, clears it easily, and continues running in the direction of Morin and Ataria.

SPEAKER_04 19:42

About how far is that figure?

SPEAKER_05 19:44

Up at the top of a building, so trying to think how many stories these are tall, probably at least what's believable? I don't know, like hundred and forty, hundred and fifty feet in the air. You basically see them as a glint against the you know artificial light above the street.

SPEAKER_04 20:09

Great. Um Whoa. That ain't optimal. But I also can't do anything about it. So I think I'm just gonna essentially start to start looping back around. Like taking a few blocks to start looping back in the other direction.

SPEAKER_09 20:31

Wait, because like these people probably assume that I'm that that Chris is a Teria. So, like the people behind us, so wouldn't that cause confusion?

SPEAKER_04 20:44

What do you mean?

SPEAKER_09 20:46

Should we like should like are we like, do you mean like we're going back for Morin and Ateria? Or no? Like this is this is above table I'm asking.

SPEAKER_04 20:54

Like our whole point was to be confusing, so and that thing is well out of earshot, so I can't exactly lie and bluff to it. So above table, real quick. It's out of earshot, can't do anything there. It's well out of the range of any spell I have, can't do anything there. Um, so I think we just keep our guys distracted and hope that they got the held down.

SPEAKER_09 21:14

I really wish that we had I really I really wish that we had that I that I had a walkie-talkie with those two as well. You can't have a walkie-talkie with a telepathy.

SPEAKER_04 21:26

Yeah, and I will say I'm going to kind of sweeten the pot here and make it I'm going to try to make it visibly more like I'm trying to protect more of a payload here to see if I can almost visually bluff that it's like a Terya. In that like if Chris starts to like deviate, I'm like very much like trying to keep them in front of me and trying to keep them like avoiding obstacles and like ducking them down and like trying to play up that this is like the thing to be guarding.

SPEAKER_05 21:55

Yeah, definitely. And keeping up the appearances, you Still got those guys on your tail as you begin to slowly do the sort of arcing circle heading back in the direction of the warehouse. Yalile.

SPEAKER_09 22:09

Also, I'm gonna send a message to Chanterell to tell uh Valentine and Orion that um they're that we're being chased by two guys and that there is a figure on the roof after Morin.

SPEAKER_00 22:24

Oh, okay. I relayed this information to Valentine.

SPEAKER_10 22:30

Well, we'll worry about that if we don't die.

SPEAKER_00 22:33

Yep. Good plan. Good plan.

SPEAKER_05 22:35

And you guys continue running. What is the Orion and Valentine crew gonna do since you have this guy gaining on your tail?

SPEAKER_10 22:45

I am going to ready in action to cast command with the command of flee um when the shape gets within 60 feet of us. And that's a DC 13 wisdom save.

SPEAKER_00 23:03

Please tell me the shape is not wise.

SPEAKER_05 23:05

I am begging. The shape is like the deepest, most zen monkey.

SPEAKER_01 23:11

The guru of like he's been sitting atop the mountain and like like meditating for 40 years straight.

SPEAKER_05 23:20

Alright, we'll come back to that in a minute then. Morin and Ateria moving through stealthily, more slowly as you're going through these streets. What is Morin's strategy heading towards the warehouse? Is it moving stealthily the whole time or moving stealthily till you're a certain distance away and bolting, or what is the the plan?

SPEAKER_09 23:46

I think, especially since I'm with the real Ataria, the fact that to the best of my knowledge, we were able to leave unseen, that's an advantage that we didn't even think we were gonna have. And I want to keep that. So you gonna keep the pace slower in order to try to stay as out of sight as we possibly can.

SPEAKER_05 24:10

Alright. Go ahead and do another stealth check for me. I'll roll for Ataria as well.

SPEAKER_09 24:18

This guy is being so nice to me today. That's a 23.

SPEAKER_05 24:22

Woo! Atteria got an 18, so that's pretty good. You guys are moving through.

SPEAKER_00 24:29

The audience, when you roll low for like two episodes in a row, sweet god. Rewards will come eventually.

SPEAKER_09 24:38

Reliving my past was so worth it.

SPEAKER_01 24:43

Sorry, sorry, sorry.

SPEAKER_05 24:45

As you are moving through these alleys, eventually you come to an area where you're going to have to cross a wider thoroughfare, a little bit of a busier street, and be more in the open. Go ahead and roll a perception check for me. Valentine and Orion. There is a handling on your tail creeping up. Now is within sixty feet. Valentine's spell triggers. I roll a wisdom saving throw, correct?

SPEAKER_03 25:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 25:49

What is the save? 13. 13. I will tell you. This guy is a plus three. So it is it is just it is just a 50-50. If you got it.

SPEAKER_02 26:06

Please, please.

SPEAKER_05 26:09

It's a 15 on the die. Damn it! Silvery barbs.

SPEAKER_03 26:14

Oh.

SPEAKER_05 26:16

Who before I roll, who's getting the advantage?

SPEAKER_10 26:20

Orion. Thank you. Smooth. I'll roll the other die this time.

SPEAKER_05 26:26

I'll roll the other die. Better for you. It's a nine on the die for a 12.

SPEAKER_01 26:37

Oh, that's so good.

SPEAKER_05 26:39

What happens with the flea command?

SPEAKER_10 26:42

He has to move. The target spends its turn moving away from you by the fastest possible means.

SPEAKER_05 26:49

Okay. Full dash back the other direction. You guys have gotten more space between you and it.

unknown 27:00

Run it.

SPEAKER_05 27:01

As you're running as fast as you can. In fact, it drops so far back that with the twists and the turns, you do have an opportunity to try to evade. So, do both of you want to roll a stealth check for me?

SPEAKER_00 27:16

Yes, please.

SPEAKER_10 27:19

Oh, I need to get my good rolling die out. Actually, I'll use this one that rolled a nap 20. Marilyn, I see your face. That was a natural one.

SPEAKER_09 27:34

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 27:36

Nine.

SPEAKER_09 27:37

Remember, you have advantage.

SPEAKER_00 27:40

Do I have advantage?

SPEAKER_09 27:42

Yes, you do.

SPEAKER_00 27:43

Oh.

SPEAKER_09 27:44

I don't.

SPEAKER_10 27:46

Oh my god. Just leave me here to die. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_01 27:52

You see the streak is back. Valentine just turns around and walks into a wall. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_00 28:01

So hypothetically, advan advantage means like I take the I take the higher of the two, right?

SPEAKER_03 28:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:07

I'll take the nine. I'll take the nine.

SPEAKER_01 28:09

Oh. Because my second roll is also a now.

SPEAKER_03 28:13

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_07 28:20

Just like we're dead. We're dead. We're dead. I'm gonna go to the place where I don't feel anything.

SPEAKER_01 28:31

We don't have time to attack all of that shotgun. Let's go.

SPEAKER_07 28:35

No, we don't.

SPEAKER_05 28:36

You're about to die. And you continue running. You have a little bit of time, but as Valentine, you duck around the corner, you see behind you that kid was running, but not as fast as the other guy. It was kind of blocked by the shape. And as you turn, you see the kid locks eyes on you and is still running in your direction. The kid has you has you it in sights, unfortunately.

SPEAKER_04 29:08

What is that kid gonna do, bro? How was I supposed to know that the kid was in an organized crime syndicate?

SPEAKER_09 29:14

However, I mean they could just be getting paid.

SPEAKER_04 29:17

We don't know. Yeah, and I rolled really well in the history check to know about the kid, and I wasn't given that he was in an organized crime group.

SPEAKER_00 29:24

Rook just lives in an apartment full of sleeper agents.

SPEAKER_09 29:28

Maybe your neighbor took out free dog.

SPEAKER_05 29:31

You keep going. Alright, we'll cycle back around to Chris and Rook. You are able to duck around a corner. I'll give you guys an opportunity to do a stealth in this moment.

SPEAKER_09 29:44

Beautiful. Ooh! Okay.

SPEAKER_04 29:54

That's a 21. Nice. I got an 18 plus three.

SPEAKER_05 29:59

Nice. I think the average there is 18. I'll do a perception check for the pursuers. Roll for them both. Alright. You guys are moving, you duck around the corner. You think maybe one of them might have seen you, but you it it basically they are dropping further behind. They're having to make more effort to see where you're going. You're creating more distance, and you're starting to feel more confident that you're gonna be able to lose them.

SPEAKER_10 30:31

Must be nice.

SPEAKER_05 30:33

I mean, not one's abounding over in the other group.

SPEAKER_10 30:37

I know.

SPEAKER_05 30:38

Alright. I'll do one more Morin and Ateria stealth check, and we'll have this. There's more distance than just the like three rounds of dashes, but we'll have this be sort of the last one for you two to determine if you are able to stealth all the rest of the way there. Because I don't need you guys to roll stealth every round.

SPEAKER_09 31:03

That is a 19 for Morin.

SPEAKER_05 31:06

A Teria rolled in that one. Be quiet.

SPEAKER_09 31:17

Well, remember she has Misty Step on her token, so I'm gonna say you guys stop in an alley for a moment and you're looking, and you motion for a Teria to follow behind you.

SPEAKER_05 31:33

And you're having to go across another busy, more open street. It's important to like heads down, move quickly, don't run because that's suspicious, but you know, move fast enough, you're not spotted. And as you go through, you are moving in front of a terrier to make sure that the route is clear and you know, checking corners, and you turn around and you see a teria has stopped in the middle of this intersection. Her hand, you you see like the motion of her hand holding something up, a piece of paper from her pocket. She reads it, and her face goes, what little color there is, her pale astral self, completely leaves her face. She looks like she's seen a ghost from the wake. And she's just standing there staring at this piece of paper.

SPEAKER_09 32:31

We do not have time for this crap. I am running back to her, throwing my arm around her waist and trying to-I'm gonna drag her with me to get out of that intersection.

SPEAKER_05 32:41

You pull her and she starts walking, and in the action, her hand, she the piece of paper flies out and gets picked up with a gust of steam and goes off down the street out of sight, as you pull her into the alleyway, and she looks at you, and you see tears begin to prickle at the corners of her eyes as she starts to just without sobs start crying.

SPEAKER_09 33:13

Oh, oh, um, I hey, what okay, what happened? What happened? I'm still like dragging her, trying to drag her as I'm as I'm letting her down the street. What happened? I like tenderly put a hand up to try to like wipe a tear away and then think better of it.

SPEAKER_05 33:32

And she just looks at you and she goes, I'm not getting out.

SPEAKER_09 33:36

I'm not I'm not getting out. No, no, why would you say that? We have a whole we have a whole plan. We have a whole plan, and it's gonna get messed up if you stop now.

SPEAKER_05 33:46

And she's beside herself, but you're able to pull her forward as you you continue.

SPEAKER_09 33:55

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 34:08

Yeah, your 19 is good. Like the 19 is helping her keep it from becoming like whales of agony. She's she's keeping it mostly contained, but it is hard to get her to do the ducking and weaving that she was doing before. It is substantially harder, but you do continue navigating and make it to the front of this warehouse. Back to Valentine and Orion.

SPEAKER_09 34:38

Me when I read the paper of despair and agony.

SPEAKER_05 34:41

You duck around this corner, and I'm going to say this natural one from Valentine on stealth. For stealth, you have to slow down. You guys both took the risk to slow your pace and duck around this corner in order to try to lose your pursuers. And Orion, you duck into a shadowy doorway, box it to your chest, pulled in, and Valentine, you duck around this corner, and there is no other doorway for you. And you realize that you're in the middle of a wide open street, and this kid rushes around the corner and is now right behind you, and yells out, stop! And it's not magic, it's just telling you to stop.

SPEAKER_10 35:37

She will stop and put her hood down and pop her halo out and say, not her. Not who you're looking for.

SPEAKER_05 35:52

Float it. The kid puts a hand up to his face. There is a stone strapped to the inside of a leather bracer on his hands, and he goes, Not this one, and puts a hand down and pulls out a knife from the side of his belt.

SPEAKER_04 36:14

Kill this kid.

SPEAKER_01 36:16

I'm resisting so hard to say the words, can I throw the chest at the kid?

SPEAKER_04 36:21

No, I was gonna say you should dr you should drop, you should drop the hundred-pound suit on him.

SPEAKER_10 36:26

And I throw the suit at the kid. Um I'm gonna keep trying to de-escalate because I really don't I'm not built for combat and I don't know what Orion's thinking. It's all a misunderstanding. This doesn't have to end in violence.

SPEAKER_05 36:44

I understand that's what you want, but that's not what you're gonna get today, Dylan. And in this moment, the kid takes a step forward, the visage of the child melts away, and a tall water Janasi woman in mage-like attire, uh, a long flowing uh cloak with an open front, revealing the swirling tidal waves that make up the inside of her torso, holds the knife up. You realize from the glint of the crystal in its pommel that this is an arcane focus and plunges it in your direction. A shard of ice and frost charges up this person's arm out the tip of the knife, and they are casting ice knife at you in this present moment. And so uh, I believe I roll an attack roll to do that. Yeah, range spell attack. I will Is there like initiative or anything? This will be before initiative is rolled. This is them taking the first action.

SPEAKER_00 37:56

Well now Orion feels less bad about throwing the chest.

SPEAKER_10 37:59

And I'm thank you for not making us kill a child, right?

SPEAKER_09 38:04

Thank you.

SPEAKER_04 38:05

Uh it was a kid for the kids.

SPEAKER_09 38:06

Because we weren't enough to kill him.

SPEAKER_04 38:08

So the kid was in fact my neighbor. However, was now I'm confused. Was the kid actually a kid or was it someone posing as a kid that's usually there?

SPEAKER_00 38:18

I feel like it's someone posing as a kid. I feel like the kid exists. Okay. I'm a little concerned about the child, but great.

SPEAKER_10 38:28

Yeah, I guess.

SPEAKER_05 38:30

Oh yeah. I not to alarm you, I rolled well. Does a 23 hit you?

SPEAKER_10 38:41

Yeah, my armor class is 11. Oh lord.

SPEAKER_01 38:46

So my barred days.

SPEAKER_05 38:48

I'm gonna roll a d10. Oh. That's one piercing damage on the D10. But now I'm going to roll two d6 for the cold damage. So you feel this shard of an icicle stab into your side, and then after a pregnant pause explodes internally within you.

SPEAKER_02 39:22

Ow. Oh, like hollow point. That's awful.

SPEAKER_05 39:26

You are incredibly lucky. Only four points of cold damage. Um, I rolled a one and a three on the die.

SPEAKER_00 39:33

You're just so radiant.

SPEAKER_10 39:35

It just I have a response for that. Ooh, totally forgot about this. For the first time, I'm gonna use um my. Oh gosh, where is it?

SPEAKER_05 39:48

Oh no, uh, debts owed. Upon taking damage from an attacker, you can spend a bardic inspiration die as a reaction. Spending the die allows you to inflict psychic damage on your attacker equal to one half of your damage taken rounded down.

SPEAKER_10 40:01

Yeah, I'm gonna do that.

SPEAKER_05 40:03

And then at level six, you'll be able to do equal to the damage you took. Right. So you took a total of five damage, right? One piercing, four cold. Okay. And then you're expending a bardic inspiration. So let me actually start keeping track of hit points.

SPEAKER_00 40:22

So funny when you reach level six, and then you can just no you back at them.

SPEAKER_05 40:27

Right.

SPEAKER_00 40:27

No you.

SPEAKER_05 40:29

Alright, so you do two points of damage back to them because it's rounded down, right? But hey! Every little bit counts. So this person casts Ice Knife at you, and then you what does it look like when you return some energy back to them?

SPEAKER_10 40:51

I think that her eyes flash, her eyes and I think her halo in tandem flash white and then pink and then back to normal as kind of a shock of pain spikes through um this Janasi's skull.

SPEAKER_05 41:14

You actually see an almost imperceptible thin beam of pink light shoot through the air and collide with this water genasi's face, and you see the light diffuse within the almost clear water of their face and skull, and a light within, almost like seeing a torpedo, you know, go through. And this mage immediately puts sort of the pommel of the knife to her head and just goes, Oh, she's got magic, and then turns to look at you and goes, wiping a little bit of um extra frothy perspiration from her face and goes, This'll be fun. And I need you to roll initiative.

SPEAKER_11 42:11

Oh boy, oh boy.

SPEAKER_09 42:14

Well, you just tell me that Orion has put the box down at this point.

SPEAKER_05 42:19

Oh, is Orion joining this fight? You have the option not to.

SPEAKER_00 42:24

You are I I am joining the fight, and um I rolled a Nat 20 on initiative. And I have four, so that is a 24.

SPEAKER_05 42:35

Okay, okay. What did Valentine get?

SPEAKER_00 42:38

A 13.

SPEAKER_05 42:40

Nice. The mage rolled very poorly, so you will go before.

SPEAKER_00 42:45

I'm chucking that box.

SPEAKER_05 42:50

Yeah, I'll say, there's not really, I think, any perks, right, for getting Nat 20 on advantage. So I'll say whatever you do, you can do with advantage, this first like attack roll or something. Because you it's not surprised or anything. If I feel like a nat 20, you should get something. So what what would you like to do?

SPEAKER_09 43:09

Right, because it's it's just like one speci it's a subclass of rogues that gets the that gets the surprise off, right?

SPEAKER_00 43:15

Yeah. I am curious. I don't think this is a thing, but is there any chance that a water genasi would be would be weaker to lightning damage?

SPEAKER_05 43:28

No.

unknown 43:29

Okay.

SPEAKER_10 43:29

Pokemon rules.

SPEAKER_00 43:31

Pokemon rules.

SPEAKER_05 43:33

Unfortunately not, but but I I respect the ask. I respect the ask.

SPEAKER_04 43:38

This person's part of a water genie. I wonder if they're susceptibly weak to taser.

SPEAKER_00 43:45

My other question is if I throw the very heavy chest at her, uh, what does that technically count as? Like a ranged attack?

SPEAKER_05 43:55

I will say that would be a ranged attack. I will say Ordinarily, I would give you disadvantage to throw a massive heavy chest at someone who's 30 feet away. But you have advantage, so it would cancel out.

SPEAKER_10 44:13

Or you could use your weapon.

SPEAKER_00 44:15

Yeah, I think I'll do that.

SPEAKER_05 44:17

You can also just drop the chest as a free action and weapon button.

SPEAKER_00 44:22

I'll do that. Orion drops the chest. It hits the ground with this thud. And he in just like this quick action unsheaths his battle axe from where it's kind of strapped in loosely to his back. And she's about 30 feet away?

SPEAKER_05 44:44

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 44:45

Okay. So I'm going to use twenty-five feet of my. I've forgotten the word for it. Like my walking speed, I guess.

SPEAKER_05 44:58

Yeah, your movement.

SPEAKER_00 44:59

My movement, yes, that's the word.

SPEAKER_05 45:01

It happens to us all.

SPEAKER_00 45:03

25 feet of my movement, so that I'm within reach. And then I'm gonna swing my axe at her. So I'm gonna roll to hit.

SPEAKER_05 45:12

Beautiful. Okay.

SPEAKER_11 45:13

With advantage.

SPEAKER_05 45:14

With advantage.

SPEAKER_00 45:15

With advantage, thank you, because I rolled a three. Oh, much better. Alright, that is a 18.

SPEAKER_05 45:22

That does hit.

SPEAKER_00 45:24

Okay. 1D8 plus four. Nine damage.

SPEAKER_05 45:31

Nice.

SPEAKER_00 45:33

Can I use a bonus action?

SPEAKER_05 45:36

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 45:37

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 45:38

No, you can't. Arbitrarily.

SPEAKER_00 45:42

So you specifically cannot use this. As I'm understanding it, I'm just gonna quickly. I guess. Positioning wise, it's me, Valentine, and this mage clustered together. The box is about 25 feet away from me, right?

SPEAKER_05 46:02

I'll say Valentine, I imagined, was a little bit further down the street, is about 30 feet from the mage. You've run and intercepted the mage. You guys were in sort of a triangle, and you closed the distance with the mage. Because the mage cast a ranged spell at Valentine. And so you are close together, but Valentine is not immediately next to you.

SPEAKER_00 46:28

I think because I don't know how hurt Valentine is, but I did see the ice shank go in and then explode, which is bad. And so I think Orion in this moment is so pr like he's not within arm's reach of the box. He's not within arm's reach of Valentine, and right now there's only this mage that's in front of him. Um, and so I think what he does is he calls upon memories that he usually tries to keep settled behind his conscious thought. Um, and 30 feet away by the by the chest, he summons an after image.

SPEAKER_06 47:23

There you go. What does this look like?

SPEAKER_00 47:29

It it materi it seems to materialize out of the shadowy doorway that he had been hiding under where the chest is. And for an instant, it's something between visual snow and the wildly fluctuating chaos that is the void. But after the moment passes, it coalesces into this tall, lanky figure. He's he's tall, he's got angular cheekbones, fairly expressionless. He has a scruffy beard and a mustache to boot. Um, but he stands there and looks at the chest and immediately assumes a position to guard it.

SPEAKER_05 48:34

Awesome. I will say you have to manifest your echo or after image within 15 feet of you. Um, but you can put it between you and the chest so that on your next turn you could command it to move immediately, or it's still sort of in a guard position. It's just not quite right by the chest.

SPEAKER_00 48:54

Ah, I see. Okay.

SPEAKER_05 48:56

It's just you have a little bit of a limitation on the range of the initial summon. Right. As long as it's within 30 feet of you, it can't exist. So it could move further away. But alright. That is Orion's turn. The mage took a you said battle axe to the shoulder and is looking at you and looks at Valentine, and you can quickly see her starting to do mental math, but it is Valentine's turn.

SPEAKER_10 49:29

Would it be possible for me to make a persuasion check as my action to say it's not too late to run?

SPEAKER_05 49:44

Yeah, for sure. I almost think that would be an intimidation check.

SPEAKER_10 49:49

Yeah. Yeah, that's true. I just don't none of my I'm not built for combat. None of my abilities do much. So if I can just take her off.

SPEAKER_09 50:01

You don't have any damage spells?

SPEAKER_10 50:03

No, I've got damage spells, but they're all like not very good. And my saves are bad. So it's an 18.

SPEAKER_08 50:12

Okay. I'm gonna have her roll.

SPEAKER_05 50:17

Okay. You saw her already doing the mental math. And she thought it was her versus you. She's highly capable. You did a little bit of damage, but not enough to make her frightened at all. A dude flew out of the alley and stabbed her for nearly five times as much in fact, over five times as much damage as you just did, and has created another dude out of thin air. And she's looking at you, she's thinking, I got a bigger dude right behind me. So she's going to look at you and look back at Orion and go, point well made. And she is going to book it. Orion, you will get an opportunity attack as she runs.

SPEAKER_00 51:17

I'm very torn between wanting to grapple her just to finish the job or just letting her go and us resuming our dead end sprint thoughts.

SPEAKER_10 51:30

I mean, on the one hand, killing her would be great. On the other, the more rounds we spend in combat, the longer we have for the shape to catch up.

SPEAKER_00 51:39

Yeah, you're right. Okay, we're let's let's run.

SPEAKER_05 51:44

Okay. So are you going to opportunity attack or are you just gonna let her go?

SPEAKER_00 51:48

I'm gonna let her go. I think the best course of action right now at the moment is to use the time before the shape catches up uh to get back the chest and just keep booking it down the alley.

SPEAKER_05 52:02

Alright. On her turn, she is going to run her full 30 feet of movement, dash another feet 30 feet back. Around the corner, you hear yelled out, Truncheon, they're all yours! And famous truncheon. She's just gonna keep running away. She was hurt. Um, and on Orion's turn, you guys can take off back running. There you go. One part of it down for the count. Next up, we have Chris and Rook darting back around. You haven't quite lost your tail. Yeah, Lily.

SPEAKER_09 52:46

Quick question. Would putting up my veil cause them to think something was weird.

SPEAKER_05 52:55

It's like a screen of pollen or something around you, right? Could you just describe it for me?

SPEAKER_09 53:00

Yeah, mine would be spores, but yeah. It's a 15-foot emanation that protects allies or hinders enemies.

SPEAKER_05 53:09

I mean, I would certainly say that would be strange. It would look weird. You don't know how familiar they are with a Teria, nor if that would give them a clue that you're not a Teria. Um, you just don't have that information. But yes, it would be visible and it would be something that someone looking at you would notice. That's what I can say.

SPEAKER_09 53:31

I'm I'm just asking because like it is a bonus action, so if we start combat, I can just do it as my bonus action, but sounds good, yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_05 53:40

Yeah, it would be noticeable, it wouldn't be imperceptible or something like that.

SPEAKER_03 53:44

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 53:45

Alright. So you guys did take one round to stealth. They are a bit closer, but you are winding in, you get the sense that they still could find you. You have not gotten far enough away to feel safe, but you are also in the midst of losing them. So do you want to take another round of being slow to attempt to stealth and lose them? Or do you want to keep running at speed and potentially have them see you but be further away from them?

SPEAKER_09 54:17

Oh, can I also ask how they're doing?

SPEAKER_05 54:22

Oh yeah, sure. I'll say you can do that on your turn. Let's figure out what you guys are doing first, and then I'll say it's that your turn, and you can do what you're gonna do.

SPEAKER_04 54:35

I think I would be trying to prioritize being stealthy at this point because there's plenty of distance. We haven't quite lost him, and I would like to lose him fully. But what I am gonna do is I'm going to like real quick, like, as we're like walking and like trying to like, you know, shuffle around the periphery of walls and stuff to be less conspicuous. I'm gonna like shoot Chris a look and essentially just mouth like just keep copying me, essentially, as I'm like just sort of stealthing through, and what is what that is going to equal is a Bardic inspiration to Chris.

SPEAKER_05 55:15

Okay, alright. Both of you roll your stealth checks.

SPEAKER_02 55:20

Okay.

SPEAKER_09 55:24

Oh yeah. Ooh. I'm gonna use my Bardic. Ooh, fantastic news. That is a fifteen.

SPEAKER_04 55:34

That is a twenty-one again.

SPEAKER_05 55:38

So for your average of eighteen again, and you duck into an alley between two buildings. From one comes the scent of is that actual food? It smells a little bit like maybe bread. You're in a slightly nicer portion of the decks, right sort of on the border between middle and upper, or sorry, uh middle and lower. You had to circle way around. So you're near the gondolas that head up, and you slink into this alley, and the steam seems thicker here, as this alley is more hot than the areas around it behind this bakery. And after a few moments of being quiet, you hear running footsteps run past the alley. And right away, you feel like you've lost them.

SPEAKER_09 56:38

Chris's eyes are very big.

SPEAKER_05 56:40

And in that moment of relative safety, Chris, you reach out telepathically to Sean Tyrrell and ask how the other group is doing.

SPEAKER_07 56:54

And Sean Tyrrell very excitedly is like, Orion had someone after she shaked, and it's so in his head, Chris is gonna be like I'm glad you're happy.

SPEAKER_11 57:23

I didn't know why nothing could be I would assume most people can. Is there anything else?

SPEAKER_07 57:37

We're running still, the big guy's still behind us. We're probably still gonna die.

SPEAKER_09 57:45

By the way, did like did like the command still work off or something above the table? It's only one round.

SPEAKER_07 57:54

We're probably still gonna die. There's another guy here now. He came out of Orion.

SPEAKER_09 58:03

Out of Orion.

SPEAKER_07 58:04

Yeah, Orion had a guy in him.

SPEAKER_09 58:10

I'm not going to ask what that means for the time being. I think we lost our guys.

SPEAKER_07 58:15

I can describe it vividly. I saw what happened.

SPEAKER_09 58:19

No, that's that's okay.

SPEAKER_07 58:20

Okay.

SPEAKER_09 58:22

Just keep me uh updated, and I think we're okay. So uh I don't think we have anyone chasing us anymore. Maybe.

SPEAKER_07 58:34

Oh, that's good, because as long as you survive, I'm fine.

SPEAKER_09 58:39

I'm glad you care about me so much.

SPEAKER_07 58:43

I do care about my own survival for sure.

SPEAKER_09 58:47

Anyway. Chris is gonna relay that too.

SPEAKER_04 58:54

Alright, um, so we get better than uh probably the better. But at the same time, maybe let's take our time and wait a second until they keep running for the best. Okay. Probably for the best.

SPEAKER_09 59:11

They still look like a Teria, because this thing lasts for an hour, so they've they've got they've got nothing but time regarding their disguise.

SPEAKER_05 59:19

I'll say effectively, Chris and Rook are out of danger as long as they still take their time and move fairly stealthily towards the warehouse.

SPEAKER_11 59:32

Shouldn't we do something about the person that was following Moran?

SPEAKER_04 59:40

Um we should. And the problem is that they went in the opposite direction.

SPEAKER_09 59:47

Um, I thought that they went straight up the street.

SPEAKER_04 59:52

Well, they were going in a different direction than us. Right? And uh narrator, correct me if I'm wrong, but we T-shaped intersection, right? Um we took right. Yeah. And Atari and Moran took center.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:10

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:10

And so this thing took off that way and we took off that way.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:14

Yeah, basically you took off towards the like if the if your back is to your apartment building, you went right, which is away from the direction of the warehouse. They went straight. This thing looked like it was looking towards you and Chris, and then turned and went off across rooftops back in the direction of Morin and Ataria Prime.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:40

It went on rooftops toward the straight path, and we continued that way. Yes. Great. What we could do is start going around like that instead of going around like that. It might throw us into danger, but it also might help us intersect whatever that was, because if something can make a 20-foot ver a 20-foot horizontal leap across a rooftop, that can probably do a fair amount of damage.

SPEAKER_11 1:01:08

I would imagine that is the case. Yes.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:12

Yeah, so I vote give it a sec, let the people that were tailing us go by, and then we start going around up in the other direction to circle back.

SPEAKER_11 1:01:23

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:24

Sound good?

SPEAKER_11 1:01:26

Yes. I have never been chased before.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:31

Oh, first time for everything. I'd say you're doing pretty good.

SPEAKER_11 1:01:34

That I know of anyway.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:38

Foreboding.

SPEAKER_05 1:01:41

Alright, we'll come back to that plan here in a second. Valentine and Orion. You turn, you run, as you run, you see ever-present the shape behind you. A being you know is at least called Truncheon, is quickly moving in your direction. What do you want to do now? I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:10

Oh my gosh. Um, Orion, do you have any ideas?

SPEAKER_00 1:02:19

Okay, above the table. I think that I can keep pace with it. So if things are terrible, like if if he's like within, you know, like striking distance. I say you bail. Like, do you do you want to take the chest and bail? And I'll just he can just come after me? Because I can keep pace with him.

SPEAKER_10 1:02:45

I don't think I can carry the chest. And my wings only last for a minute, so I don't know where I would bail to other than the middle of the open air where I would then fall to my death.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:05

But like, where are we?

SPEAKER_05 1:03:09

What yeah, you guys took off back down the middle of this thoroughfare. It's the easiest place to be moving the fastest as possible. You are ducking between random pedestrians as you are going, having to sort of weed between between trawlers and whatnot as you are going. You are quickly approaching the area where the warehouse is because you are the group that has consistently been moving at full speed the most.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:39

So sheer necessity.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:42

Right. Um, you were very convincing. So the most dangerous guy came after you. You do know that at least they appear aware that you are not a Terrier, and they're coming after you, but you do not know if there is necessarily an option or an angle with that because you heard, you know, that information relayed, but this guy is still pursuing you. There are offshoot alleys, there are rooftops above, there are different pathways you can take and different things you can try to do. I will say, so far you have not seen any brig patrols or anything like that, but you do know that there are brig stations around the lower decks that you could angle towards if you wanted to try to get law enforcement involved. But of course, that has its own ups and downs. So there are options here of potentially ways you could get people involved, but right now you're on your own.

SPEAKER_10 1:04:53

Yeah, I guess she'll be like, how do you feel about going to the bricks?

SPEAKER_00 1:05:00

Oh, that question hurts his soul. Um mind you, like, I I this conversation's happening at top speed, so it's a lot less glamorous.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:13

How do you feel about you know what?

SPEAKER_00 1:05:18

I hate it, but at this point, it might be our best shot. Because I think that if you I don't know, if I was a Brig and there's a dude that's like I I don't know. Can you do that thing again? Like with your what was it, the the Halo? Would that help? Cause there's a big you know, dude back there, Truncheon, was that his name? Dear god. Um, but yeah, like I mean, you know, that that one guy from earlier, he was really keen on you not getting not you not getting hurt, and I I feel like if you could utilize that again. Uh, and they'd probably at least, you know, stop the dude in his tracks or something. I mean, uh, it would give us time to at least duck somewhere.

SPEAKER_10 1:06:11

We could try. He would have to get within 30 feet of us, though. Okay, maybe let's try.

SPEAKER_05 1:06:22

Running.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:22

Okay, there is let's just stop.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:26

Yeah, okay, how about this? Let's try, and then if shit goes south, you fly, and I'll I'll echo.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:36

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:37

Alright.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:38

Okay, so I'm already in action. Okay.

SPEAKER_05 1:06:42

I just see Marilyn's face just being like, I don't want this to be the thing.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:48

Already, already my asshole, I guess, because I don't know what else I'm supposed to do.

SPEAKER_10 1:06:54

Um, action when he comes within 30 feet of me to cast suggestion.

SPEAKER_05 1:07:04

Ooh, okay. My question is, are you going to continue booking it straight towards the warehouse as you run, or are you angling towards a different location?

SPEAKER_10 1:07:14

I think actually instead of readying an action, because that costs a reaction, and I need my reaction probably. I'm just going to pull on Orion to like make a hard right turn into a different alley and just stop. Okay.

SPEAKER_05 1:07:35

Sounds like a plan. After a few moments. Oh yeah. Okay. In fact, I'll say he skids to a stop and you see these clawed feet skid kicking up cheap metal and grinding, creating, like, you know how when you scratch metal in like a cartoon, there's like the little bits that spiral off. It does that and then slides with such momentum that it takes out the corner of this wall of this alley as it stops itself and its momentum to pivot and close off the end of that alley. It's fully like the it is half as wide as the alley standing in the center of the alley.

SPEAKER_04 1:08:37

Okay. One girl's getting cut in half.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:44

I'm already almost half elf. I'm gonna cast suggestion. I'm gonna say.

SPEAKER_10 1:08:52

Walk away, walk, and keep walking. Don't stop.

SPEAKER_07 1:09:01

Alright.

SPEAKER_05 1:09:02

Oh, and this lasts up to eight hours.

SPEAKER_10 1:09:05

Eight hours, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:09:07

Okay. I'm gonna roll. This is still fifteen. Mm-hmm. Note. Yeah, 13. This guy has a plus three. Yeah. So it's a 50-50. Almost. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:09:24

Valentine cast. Go bye-bye.

SPEAKER_05 1:09:26

Blue, blue or yellow? Blue.

SPEAKER_04 1:09:29

Blue.

unknown 1:09:30

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 1:09:31

Blue's the one that failed before. That is a 12 on the die for a 15. Damn it! Silvery barbs. Same die or different one?

SPEAKER_10 1:09:45

Uh different one.

SPEAKER_05 1:09:47

Okay, we'll use the yellow this time.

SPEAKER_10 1:09:49

So scary.

SPEAKER_05 1:09:50

The yellow is the one that has like the sad, angry face when it's a nat one. That is a six on the die for a nine.

SPEAKER_09 1:10:03

Pink. Silvery barbs is peak, bro.

SPEAKER_05 1:10:07

I mean, you're using like all your spell slots. It's fine.

SPEAKER_10 1:10:11

This is why we long rested. I have one level one spell slot and one level two spell slot left.

SPEAKER_05 1:10:18

Alright. He stops, and what was the exact suggestion? Was it turn around and walk and keep walking?

SPEAKER_10 1:10:26

Walk and keep walking, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:10:28

Okay. He turns to look at you. You know, a portion of six seconds goes by before it comes to be his turn, and he looks at you and he goes, I am patient. I can wait. And he turns and starts walking. And keeps walking.

SPEAKER_10 1:10:56

Oh my gosh. Oh, that is not how I wanted to die. Okay, I'm glad that worked.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:04

Thank you so much. I'm so tired.

SPEAKER_12 1:11:09

Yeah. Let's go.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:12

Alright.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:16

Oh my gosh. And then we'll just start.

SPEAKER_10 1:11:20

I'll put my hood back up and we'll start walking to the warehouse.

SPEAKER_05 1:11:25

Are you guys stealthing? Yes.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:28

That's stealth, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:11:29

I feel like you, the players, are winded. You're like.

SPEAKER_09 1:11:34

The people that aren't with them are winded.

SPEAKER_05 1:11:37

Yeah. Oh man. I was like, I hope that he's scary enough that you didn't have to fight him for him to be scary. I'm scared. I'm still scared.

SPEAKER_08 1:11:48

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 1:11:48

There you go. I roll on my end. Roll your stealth.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:53

Ah, yes, stealth. I was still recovering from that.

SPEAKER_10 1:11:57

So nine.

SPEAKER_09 1:11:58

Oh, who has advantage from your silvery barbs?

SPEAKER_10 1:12:02

Uh Orion's the only one with me, so it's gotta be Orion again.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:06

Okay. Can't make this up, guys. Another Nat 20.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:12

Yo!

SPEAKER_00 1:12:13

For 24. Thank you for the silvery barbs, because my first one was an eight.

SPEAKER_05 1:12:19

Definitely helps offset the nine for sure. So I think Valentine, you just cast a lot of magic very quickly and used you know certain abilities for like the first time in a long time.

SPEAKER_10 1:12:34

And I'm bleeding internally.

SPEAKER_05 1:12:36

And you're you're not doing great. In fact, so far, I think you are the only person in this whole encounter that has taken damage. So you the person who's not built for this. Um as you are moving through, I mean, this was the plan. You you were deceptive, you made yourself the target. Um, and you move through. And maybe because of blood loss or fatigue, uh, you stumble a little bit, but Orion is able to not like hold you up because he's carrying a very heavy chest, but sort of helps nudge you in the right direction, helps verbally tell you when to duck when you are a little bit out of sorts, and you are able to make your way to this warehouse ducking in the front.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:29

Orion is at this point so sweaty.

SPEAKER_05 1:13:36

I'll say by this point, you guys are actually probably temporally the first group there because of the running and whatnot. Um, but after a few minutes, Morin and Ateria slink their way into the warehouse. We'll come back to Chris and Rook in a second, but as Morin brings Ateria in, you immediately see that Ateria is whimpering, crying, and is not doing well.

SPEAKER_10 1:14:09

What happened? Are you alright? Are you hurt?

SPEAKER_08 1:14:20

I'm getting out. I'm not.

SPEAKER_10 1:14:26

I'm gonna start almost like trying to see if she's injured. Of course you're getting out. What's happening? Morren, what's happening?

SPEAKER_09 1:14:38

Everything was fine, everything was going perfectly fine, and no one saw us, and then she stopped in the middle of an intersection, and she was holding a piece of paper. I don't know where she got the piece of paper, and she started crying. And so I had to drag her half of the way here.

SPEAKER_10 1:14:57

What did it say? Ateria?

SPEAKER_05 1:15:02

He doesn't understand He told me to stay, I can't leave if he tells me to stay. I can't. I can I can't.

SPEAKER_09 1:15:10

He Ataria, who's he?

SPEAKER_05 1:15:18

I can't and like her body tenses up and it seems like she's in incredible pain.

SPEAKER_10 1:15:32

Are you cursed? You don't you don't have to say anything. Do you know how we can fix this?

SPEAKER_12 1:15:57

And we blew it.

SPEAKER_05 1:16:04

You all need to go. You need to leave me. You need to go now. You need to be gone. You you've got you've gotta be gone.

SPEAKER_10 1:16:20

Is he coming?

SPEAKER_08 1:16:23

I don't know. I can't leave. So someone's gonna come and get me. And you can't be here when they do. You can't. Okay.

SPEAKER_05 1:16:38

We can still get you out. I can't disobey Valentine.

SPEAKER_10 1:16:50

Can I make any kind of like insight check or something? Like, is this anything like anything I've ever seen before? You could make an arcana check. Oh, good.

SPEAKER_05 1:17:05

You could do ins insight would glean you information about a Teria's state of being in terms of like her emotions and her thoughts, but Arcana would be more like what is affecting her.

SPEAKER_10 1:17:18

Okay. I th what I was thinking was more like almost like when you see something similar to something you've seen as a child, but now that you're an adult, you are suddenly recontextualizing those memories.

SPEAKER_05 1:17:34

Okay.

SPEAKER_10 1:17:35

I'm just trying to see like, is this something like am I re-seeing anything from my past in this moment?

SPEAKER_05 1:17:48

Okay. That would be, I think, more so history.

SPEAKER_10 1:17:52

Okay. I'm still intelligence, okay. Fourteen.

SPEAKER_05 1:18:03

This is not something you recognize.

SPEAKER_03 1:18:06

Okay.

unknown 1:18:10

Okay.

SPEAKER_06 1:18:11

So I gotta stay, and you gotta go.

SPEAKER_10 1:18:20

He's not going to win. He's not going to win, Ataria. Chris is Can I get here? That he can heal things.

SPEAKER_06 1:18:29

Valentine. Valentine? Sunshine, it's not, it's not your him. It's not your him. I can't it's not it's not Edgar.

SPEAKER_05 1:18:41

I can't say his name. It's not Edder. Okay? I can say his name. It's not, it's not your him. It's not your him.

SPEAKER_08 1:18:56

And I can't. I can't.

SPEAKER_05 1:19:06

I can't talk about my him. Okay?

SPEAKER_10 1:19:18

I won't leave you to die. I won't do that. I don't care that it's not.

SPEAKER_05 1:19:24

Valentine, it seems like you don't understand. Dying is what I want. This isn't that. Cause you're gonna see me again and it's gonna be worse. And I'm not gonna be able to do anything about it then, okay? So Valentine. Wait, if you see me again, you bring me some sunshine and you end it. Okay? I'm not gonna ask you to do it now. You don't have time to think about it and to process it, so I'm not gonna do that to you. But if you see me again, you end it. Okay? The guy you want to talk to, his name's Rexham. Rexum Relane. He's been after Evder for a while. He might be able to get you in. Or he'll know something. I haven't talked to him in god twenty years. But he's the person that you're looking for. Okay. And um uh but for for for the detective for the detective, the um the four guys, uh Trenton, I think you know, uh there's a mage called Bluefingers, um there's another guy, uh God's what are their names? Okay, um uh the the there's a guy named Squeak and a guy named Braken. Um those are the four that he might be after. I I don't I I swear I don't know their real names, but those are the ones for him, okay? Um I don't I I don't know what else I can I but you gotta go. You guys need to leave.

unknown 1:21:29

Okay.

SPEAKER_06 1:21:32

Okay, Terya.

SPEAKER_10 1:21:38

I promise. I promise next time I see you.

SPEAKER_06 1:21:45

Bring me sunshine, alright?

SPEAKER_10 1:21:50

Alright. I'm going to kiss her on the head and then turn to Moran and Orion. We need to go. Right now. Are you serious?

SPEAKER_00 1:22:08

What? Just like that?

SPEAKER_10 1:22:11

You hurt her. Do you want to die here? I don't. And then I'm just gonna I'm not gonna wait, you know, like if they want to stay here and die, they're welcome to, but Valentine's gonna put up her hood and run.

SPEAKER_09 1:22:32

And run? Run. Oh.

SPEAKER_00 1:22:37

She's got runners high from running from truncheon.

SPEAKER_09 1:22:41

It's a new hobby.

SPEAKER_01 1:22:43

I gotta keep going.

SPEAKER_09 1:22:45

Moran's gonna kind of look back and forth between Ateria and Valentine running off in the distance. Um feet away. Um and make eye contact with Orion and go. Oh, float it, and then start running after after Valentine.

SPEAKER_00 1:23:07

I think Orion is the last to leave. Partially because it takes a second for him to pick up the chest.

SPEAKER_01 1:23:17

Oh, you're taking the chest.

SPEAKER_05 1:23:19

I'm not leaving, it's so expensive.

SPEAKER_01 1:23:23

HR is gonna sack me. I need how expensive rent is where I live?

SPEAKER_00 1:23:35

Um I think as Orion turns to go, he turns and for a moment looks back at Ateria. And I feel like in that moment he I feel like he recognizes the face of someone who's accepted their fate. And so as he turns to go, he just kind of gives her a look, and it's not like a pitying look or anything, but it's just a like he hopes that on some level she knows that he's sorry that there wasn't more that he could do. And then he picks up the chest and he runs also.

SPEAKER_05 1:24:33

As you go by her, her arm shoots up and she grabs you by the elbow. And her grip is too strong. It actually hurts your hand or hurts your arm for a second as she grabs you. And she looks at you and she goes, I forgot. Tell the detective I didn't kill Phyllis, but I might have done something worse. And she lets you go.

SPEAKER_00 1:25:03

Alright, I'll I'll let him know. Um, I'm sorry. And he turns and he runs.

SPEAKER_05 1:25:19

And the sound of sobs and whimpers trail behind you, following you the way that a Terrier can't.

SPEAKER_08 1:25:50

Chris and Rook.

SPEAKER_05 1:25:54

Uh, does has has Chanterelle gotten back to me? We're not quite temporally to that moment yet.

SPEAKER_06 1:26:01

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_05 1:26:03

But it will it will come here in a second. But you guys are currently cycling back around trying to sort of go up this middle path back towards where since we're not being followed anymore.

SPEAKER_09 1:26:18

Should I can I just do you think I can just like change out of my disguise? Yeah. You think that would be a good idea? Probably smart. Yeah. Yeah, I'm gonna do that.

SPEAKER_04 1:26:28

Yeah, I think couldn't hurt.

SPEAKER_05 1:26:33

But I think you were looking for someone or something if you want to do some perception checks.

SPEAKER_09 1:26:41

I think we were looking for a terrier, right?

SPEAKER_04 1:26:45

You might have been looking for a terrier. I was looking for the thing on the roof.

SPEAKER_09 1:26:49

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_04 1:26:50

I was absolutely focused on the rooftop boogeyman that jumped 20 feet in a single leap.

SPEAKER_09 1:26:57

Yeah, that makes sense.

SPEAKER_00 1:26:58

The new shape just dropped, guys. It's roofman.

SPEAKER_04 1:27:07

Yeah, probably the camera was going insane. What is that gonna be? Perception is it's gonna be a 19. 15 plus 4.

SPEAKER_09 1:27:21

Okay. Oh, we're rolling perception. Right.

SPEAKER_06 1:27:24

Yeah, let me roll something. What was your roll, Rook?

SPEAKER_04 1:27:30

I got a 19.

SPEAKER_05 1:27:32

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 1:27:34

I got a 17.

SPEAKER_05 1:27:37

You guys are moving through. Don't really see anything for a while. And you're starting to get close to the rendezvous point, close to the warehouse, minutes on the tail of the people that came before you. And as you get close, you hear that report from Sean Terrell in a voice unfit for the thematic relevance.

SPEAKER_07 1:28:16

Alright, so like we're abandoning Atteria because she said that she can't leave now and that if we stay, we'll die. Um and so now we're running away. We're I don't know where we're going. No one said that, but we're leaving. Um and Atia is still there. That's the update. Why why? I don't know. She was like sad and said she couldn't leave, and then she like gave some information. Uh information.

SPEAKER_12 1:28:51

Oh.

SPEAKER_07 1:28:51

Like, like she was she was given the stuff she said she was gonna give and stuff. Like, I didn't write it down. You'll have to ask other people, but uh you know. That's the update.

SPEAKER_11 1:29:05

That's it.

SPEAKER_07 1:29:08

Apparently.

SPEAKER_12 1:29:16

Cause we've been being chased by bad people.

SPEAKER_11 1:29:20

Why now?

SPEAKER_07 1:29:22

She she looked at like a piece of paper and it changed her whole perspective or something.

SPEAKER_12 1:29:30

Okay. Okay, um see uh if the others made sense of anything she said, uh, can you ask them?

SPEAKER_07 1:29:44

Okay, just give me a few minutes to parse it through. We're running places, but you know, I'll uh I'll I'll write up some notes when I learn how to write. And um I'll get them to you. I'll I'll like uh put put them in like ooh, bullet points. That'll be great. I like bullet points. I'll write I'll write up the notes in bullet points.

SPEAKER_11 1:30:08

How do you know what bullet points are?

SPEAKER_07 1:30:11

I just know it somehow. It's great.

SPEAKER_09 1:30:16

I don't think I know what a bullet point is.

SPEAKER_07 1:30:19

We'll learn together.

SPEAKER_09 1:30:23

Alright, I'll tell Rook, I guess. And Chris is gonna like stop suddenly. And like kind of like, like, I don't know if you were like grabbing their arm or whatever, but like they're gonna like grab your arm to like stop and say, I think we're running away now.

SPEAKER_04 1:30:47

What what do you mean we're running away now?

SPEAKER_11 1:30:50

Uh apparently something happened and Teria told everyone to leave. So we're not we're not working for her anymore, and um, I think she gave your information to um everyone else to relay back to you, so she did she gave everyone what they were supposed to get, or whatever that means, but we're not supposed to follow her anymore. I don't know why.

SPEAKER_04 1:31:27

Why does nothing make sense in this last two days? Yeah, clearly. Um I I I guess I guess we're meeting up with the others then. Um do we have a a place where we're meeting up or what I don't know.

SPEAKER_11 1:31:51

Sean Jarell said that they weren't that no one said where they were going, they were just going.

SPEAKER_04 1:31:59

Uh well, guess that's exactly what we're gonna do too. So assume that they're just running in a direction probably opposite where we were originally going.

SPEAKER_09 1:32:13

Let's go. Chris is gonna go, Chanterell. Have they told you where they're going?

SPEAKER_07 1:32:20

Uh, let me consult with the group. Uh, where's the other group going?

SPEAKER_01 1:32:27

Uh I'm so glad we have Chanterell. We'd be cooked.

SPEAKER_04 1:32:34

I I love how increasingly in Chanterell's voice, there's like the subtlest hint of a New York Italian accent seeing through.

SPEAKER_01 1:32:43

She's like, she's like then catching it from Atia.

SPEAKER_05 1:32:47

Yeah, no, that's that's Ray problems. That's Ateria voice and Chanterell coming together. Not on purpose.

SPEAKER_10 1:33:03

I don't think Valentine has a direction she's going, and I also think probably everyone's caught up to andor past her. I think she's just kind of stumbling blindly, clutching her side.

SPEAKER_09 1:33:20

Are we, can I do a perception check to see if it looks like we're being watched or followed? Yeah, sure. Go ahead. That is a nat 20 for a 24.

SPEAKER_05 1:33:33

Ooh, okay.

SPEAKER_09 1:33:38

I'll dig it.

SPEAKER_05 1:33:40

You are confident you are not being followed.

SPEAKER_09 1:33:45

Okay. Um, then I'm going to kind of grab Marilyn and Orion, kind of get them to stop. And um, guys, guys, slow down, slow down. I think we're good. I think I think we're far enough away. We just left the rendezvous point. We need to figure out where Rook and Chris are, and you are bleeding. Yes.

SPEAKER_03 1:34:13

Yes.

SPEAKER_09 1:34:18

Wait, I I um I have something for that. I have something for that. And Mourne is gonna reach down and kind of put she doesn't really know how the magic in this fully works, so she's kind of gonna place a hand on that like crocheted token from Chris on the handle of her grappling hook, and then put a hand to Valentine's side and cast first level cure wounds.

SPEAKER_05 1:34:45

Nice. I'll say, why don't Lily roll the the healing since you have the spell in front of you, but I shall do so.

SPEAKER_09 1:34:54

Yeah, because whenever it's cast, it's cast with my modifiers, I believe. So but like not that like cure wounds is like that, but okay. It's 2d8 plus 4. 12.

SPEAKER_07 1:35:05

Nice.

SPEAKER_10 1:35:06

Wow. That definitely gets back the all the way back to full.

SPEAKER_00 1:35:12

Nice.

SPEAKER_10 1:35:13

Um Valentine kind of straightens, but the hollow look doesn't leave her eyes. She's just kind of going to like clasp your shoulder, you know, in like thanks and say we could go to the fading light. If no place in the city is safe, what's the difference? Uh Chanterelle, will you tell the others? You betcha.

SPEAKER_05 1:35:58

For the podcasting audience, we are all trying to hold in laughter and be serious things happening, and then suddenly Chanterelle's voice.

SPEAKER_04 1:36:08

It takes every ounce of composure in my body to not bust out laughing audibly every time Chanterell speaks.

SPEAKER_05 1:36:18

It's like that meme on like DD reels where it's like, you know, Boblin the Goblin in the first episode, and then it's like, you know, 20 levels in, it's like, oh my comrades, we will have a very violent Boblin the goblin.

SPEAKER_10 1:36:34

The best kind. Okay, and then Valentine, I guess, will lead the way.

SPEAKER_05 1:36:41

Sounds good. Chantero uh sends forward that information to go to the fading light, which Rook conveniently knows the location of uh because he's been there before.

SPEAKER_04 1:36:53

And Rook will go there after he goes back to his apartment.

SPEAKER_09 1:36:59

I don't know how to go places, so I'm gonna follow you. I I just want to go home.

SPEAKER_04 1:37:06

Entirely fair. Yeah. Rook needs a bag of stuff, um, because he will be promptly abandoning that apartment.

SPEAKER_05 1:37:18

Fair enough.

SPEAKER_04 1:37:19

Very promptly.

SPEAKER_05 1:37:21

Mm-hmm. Let's say do one more perception check for me.

SPEAKER_04 1:37:26

Me?

SPEAKER_09 1:37:27

Both of us?

SPEAKER_05 1:37:28

Or just both of you?

SPEAKER_00 1:37:30

Oh boy. Rook actually gets jumped by the small child this time. And we are going stealthily.

SPEAKER_09 1:37:38

Okay. That's a 19 perception check for me.

SPEAKER_04 1:37:43

My luck has held up. That is also a 19.

SPEAKER_06 1:37:46

Okay. My luck has not. Oh, thank god.

SPEAKER_05 1:37:54

As you're walking through this alley, you're moving stealthily, so you're taking these back alleys. Out of the corner of your eye, you see crouched, sort of on a fire escape level, above the main alleyway. You look up and you see the figure watching you.

SPEAKER_09 1:38:14

Chris is just going a very quietly. Oh, thank you.

SPEAKER_05 1:38:21

What do you do?

SPEAKER_04 1:38:22

It's it's just on the roof of the of the apartment building.

SPEAKER_05 1:38:26

It's on the fire escape above the alley.

SPEAKER_04 1:38:31

On the fire escape above the alley. And it is looking at us, yes.

SPEAKER_05 1:38:35

Yeah, you get the impression its head turns as you are walking through.

SPEAKER_04 1:38:44

You know, I have enough of a toolkit to where I can get out of a bind, hopefully. I am going to. I'm just gonna very calmly and very like absolutely nothing is wrong, just walk through the door. Just just enter the building. I need my stuff.

SPEAKER_06 1:39:10

Okay. And you do.

SPEAKER_05 1:39:15

You walk up to your apartment. You start packing up your stuff. Chris, where are you gonna post up while Rook is packing up his things?

SPEAKER_09 1:39:25

I'm gonna go with Rook because I am afraid. Chris is scared right now. Okay. Because like they're in a place they don't know. There she's like she's just been given some very ominous information. Um, that thing is staring at us. And the like sh there's only one other person here besides him, like, besides Chris. So yeah, Chris is very scared right now.

SPEAKER_05 1:40:02

Alright. Rook, you throw your things in a bag. What are some things in particular that Rook thinks to take with him as he's abandoning this home?

SPEAKER_04 1:40:13

Uh well, for starters, he beelines it to the kitchen and gets those, like, several kind of jars of um kind of that herb mix of wispweed and a bunch of other things. Um instantly, that's the first thing in the bag. Goes in, gets some spare clothes, uh, and there's kind of like a charcoal drawing on his nightstand that he grabs, and it looks like two guys with charcoal smudges on their face, one a good bit taller than the other, um, kind of just laughing and smiling together. Both kind of like it's it's a charcoal drawing, but they both are clearly stylized in a way to where there are like somewhat bright-looking flames coming off both of them. So, like kind of little wisps of charcoal coming off the top. And he packs that away and gets some spare clothes, just odds and ends that he might need. Kinda just says farewell, because a lot of this is just other clothes that he can get another time, and a lot of it is just other groceries that he can get another time. By groceries, I mean sludge. But you know, it's affordable.

SPEAKER_00 1:41:35

Sorry, I'm just imagining like a grocery store, but everything is just sludge.

SPEAKER_05 1:41:40

Everything is provisions, different flavors of provisions.

SPEAKER_04 1:41:43

I was about to say it's all like a slightly different shade. It's like this one's beige, this one's khaki. Yeah, like packages different.

SPEAKER_10 1:41:53

It's just different consistencies at this point.

SPEAKER_01 1:41:56

This one's powdered, this one's like a pate.

SPEAKER_04 1:42:00

Yeah. And then along with that, he's going to kind of similarly in the nightstand, there is like um it's two things. There's more of a kind of elaborate looking also metal pipe, but this one looks less ornate with like kind of that skull and chains look on it. And it's just kind of a very simply fashioned, kind of very plain looking pipe, and a locket next to it. And he just grabs both of those, drops them in the bag, zips up the bag, gets it on his back, and he's like. Well, do you have any uh clothing in mind that you'd like to take? You're welcome to any of it, because I will not be seeing this place again.

SPEAKER_09 1:42:43

Out of curiosity, like scratch stuff, right? What is what does he have out of pure curiosity?

SPEAKER_04 1:42:51

It's a lot of kind of dress shirt looking things, leather jackets. You see several spare hats, kind of like hanging in a hat rack on the far side of his room. Um you see a couple extra sets of boots, you know, a lot of long pants, some tank tops, like a few things that like could be considered like lounge wear, but not really. It's more just like a few tank tops and things that look like sweatpants. But for the most part, it's a lot of various different dark paletted things that look very similar to the outfit he's currently wearing.

SPEAKER_09 1:43:29

I had a okay. Ray, is there anything that sticks out to me?

SPEAKER_07 1:43:34

Yeah, of course. Uh, go ahead and do a wisdom saving throw for me.

SPEAKER_09 1:43:40

Oh, fantastic. I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_01 1:43:44

I wish you guys could see Victor's face right now. Oh, okay. That's a really good closet.

SPEAKER_05 1:43:51

You make the mistake of asking me questions. Um, I don't want to be a good one. 23 is great. A 23. You look and you see one of the leather jackets. It's not very well worn. It's one of Rook's backups. And it has an older cut to it. It's sort of out of style, but Chris doesn't know that. You look at it and you give it a sniff. Of course it's faux, it's not real. It's been magically fabricated somehow, but it has that the smell reminds you of something or someone. And you s you take just the deepest breath of it. And you know that nothing in this world will feel right until this jacket is on your shoulders.

SPEAKER_09 1:44:58

Okay. I'm gonna take the jacket. You do. And Chris is kind of like like kind of just like snips it, holds it there for a second. They have this, if if Rook is paying attention, they have like this very distant, kind of confused look in their eyes, and then she puts it on her shoulders under her cloak.

SPEAKER_04 1:45:35

Never seen that reaction to a piece of clothing, but you know, um sorry, I might have worn that one once or twice.

SPEAKER_11 1:45:43

I apologize if it you know has Oh I am sorry if that was strange.

SPEAKER_04 1:45:49

No, I'm j I just I don't want it to, you know, smell bad.

SPEAKER_11 1:45:54

It does not smell bad.

SPEAKER_04 1:45:58

Real quick, while we're in here and we're not dead quite yet. You you you live down in the down in the hole, right?

SPEAKER_11 1:46:06

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 1:46:09

Closer by the uh uh by the engines.

unknown 1:46:13

Huh?

SPEAKER_04 1:46:13

Do you ever hear the like uh kind of sounds like wailing? Like like screams.

SPEAKER_11 1:46:23

Screams.

SPEAKER_09 1:46:25

Uh should I make like a history check for that?

SPEAKER_07 1:46:28

Sure.

SPEAKER_01 1:46:29

Or like do I just know?

SPEAKER_09 1:46:31

Roll for screams?

SPEAKER_07 1:46:33

I would say history check.

SPEAKER_01 1:46:34

Okay. Take anything you like from my.

SPEAKER_05 1:46:57

And being asked about screams reminds you that you once had nightmares.

SPEAKER_09 1:47:04

Chris kind of does that like far-off look and kind of tilts their head again.

SPEAKER_11 1:47:08

The only screams I've ever heard are in my nightmares. Sorry.

SPEAKER_04 1:47:17

No, you're you're you're good.

SPEAKER_11 1:47:18

I I I think uh I think I had nightmares once.

SPEAKER_04 1:47:26

Well, I mean you I mean better than still having them, so I that's say you're kinda doing pretty good on that metric. Perhaps I appreciate that. Just wanted to check something.

SPEAKER_12 1:47:43

Thank you for the jacket.

SPEAKER_04 1:47:50

Yeah, um sorry to bother, didn't mean to dredge up the um uh memories, I think.

SPEAKER_11 1:48:00

There's no memories.

SPEAKER_04 1:48:04

I don't think how do you know you used to have nightmares?

SPEAKER_12 1:48:14

I rem I think I remember that I used to, but that's it.

SPEAKER_04 1:48:21

Well it makes you feel any better, I still get nightmares, so you know are nightmares normal? I think some people are more prone to them than others. Um certainly easy to avoid them if you don't sleep, but like Yeah. I don't know. The ones I get probably aren't, but that's a problem for another day.

SPEAKER_11 1:48:47

I would like to go get Chantrell, and then I think I want to go home.

SPEAKER_04 1:48:56

No, uh uh of course, we're we're gonna get you home. Um I'm sorry that we brought you into all this. This has been horribly unfair to you. Um and just we're we're we're gonna get you back there, okay? And you'll be free of us, free of all the nonsense and chaos of all this, you know, decks nonsense. Um just you you can go back, live in more comfortable less less chaotic.

SPEAKER_11 1:49:30

Um, um, I know that everyone else hasn't been very nice to you, but I think you are very kind.

SPEAKER_09 1:49:47

I'll try. Chris, very it's a very shaky version of that like cracked smile they do.

SPEAKER_00 1:49:59

Are you? Then it fades.

SPEAKER_04 1:50:07

I'm sorry you got wrapped up in all this. Uh c can I give you a hug?

SPEAKER_11 1:50:12

What does a hug?

SPEAKER_04 1:50:19

And you see kind of like a little a little a little glowing red ember of a tear kind of like a little glowing red ember of a tear kind of forms in the corner of Rook's eye and it's just like oh yeah, you you I mean it's kinda what it's kind of what Chanterell does um like like on your leg, but like holding onto my leg is a hug. Well Well no, not not like not like your leg specifically, but like like that, but like your your whole like your whole body. It's like you you like you hold someone.

SPEAKER_12 1:51:04

Oh I see. Alright. I have never had a hug before.

SPEAKER_11 1:51:14

So I would like to try one out, I suppose.

SPEAKER_04 1:51:20

And just like kind of leans in and gives like like not like a like a big not like a big touchy-feely hug, but like just like a little little hug, a little pat.

SPEAKER_09 1:51:31

All that Chris's arms are at their sides. Am I supposed to do anything?

SPEAKER_04 1:51:40

Um I mean, usually, like you you reciprocate the uh the the motion. It's it's kind of like a like a like a like a two-person situation. I'm sorry, I should have explained it better beforehand.

SPEAKER_09 1:51:54

Okay. Chris very hesitantly puts their arms around Rook.

SPEAKER_08 1:52:01

Oh, what a touching scene.

SPEAKER_05 1:52:07

And you turn and you pivot, and you see that the cloaked figure is leaning against the doorway into Rook's apartment.

SPEAKER_08 1:52:17

I could just rip my own heart out and eat it. That's so sweet.

SPEAKER_11 1:52:27

That was very nice. Thank you, Rook.

SPEAKER_04 1:52:32

You are most certainly welcome, Chris, and you will get many more when we get out of here.

SPEAKER_08 1:52:40

Of course, you can walk on by. I just wanted to stop by and take a look.

SPEAKER_04 1:52:46

Mada asks who is gracing the doorway of my abode.

SPEAKER_05 1:52:51

No one in particular. And the figure cocks their head. It's a feminine voice and leans a gloved hand up against the doorway and is very nonchalant.

SPEAKER_08 1:53:09

No, I just wanted to come check on that little missy, little mister, little something over there. I don't think that it's what I thought it was, but it is interesting.

SPEAKER_05 1:53:25

Couldn't help but spot it when they were running around. Oh, come on in. And you see the two guys from the alley step into the apartment past the cloaked figure. One is actually a very tall, lanky woman now that you can see her face under the hood, and the other is a slightly shorter um what looks to be a man. The woman is Cirxtian and Elf, but the guy appears to be Earth Janasi as they step in on either side of the cloaked figure. And out front you see the steps of a lumbering figure that takes up the entire hallway. And sort of peeking around, you see a water genasi, a woman peek in her head. I just wanted to stop by and say hi.

SPEAKER_08 1:54:25

Hello.

SPEAKER_12 1:54:27

What's your name?

SPEAKER_06 1:54:31

Um I hate to say it, I don't have all day. I'm right.

SPEAKER_04 1:54:44

Where no, no, no, you're right. Where are my manners? Name's Raymond.

SPEAKER_08 1:54:50

Raymond. All right, Raymond.

SPEAKER_09 1:54:57

Chris looks at Brooke and then looks back at this person and something visceral. Deep down in Chris, where they don't it's deep down with those feelings they'll get at random times that they don't know why or how they know things. Something deep within Chris is screaming at them not to tell this person their name.

SPEAKER_12 1:55:35

I call myself I call myself I I call myself Flower Sure.

SPEAKER_06 1:55:58

I'll call you Flower Pleasure to meet you, Flower Raymond. Don't pay me any mind, I was just checking in. Keeping an eye out, remembering faces Should it ever be relevant again?

SPEAKER_08 1:56:23

Good to know.

SPEAKER_04 1:56:26

You're not gonna be living here anymore I don't have to keep this place staked out Have a pleasant evening, Raymond I believe you've introduced yourself yet though as you've so kindly demonstrated names have power, sugar And you don't need mine Just like I don't need yours Can I see any part of this person's face under their cloak? Any part at all? Roll a perception check for me since it's obfuscated by shadow, could I argue that the fire genasi dark vision helps? Since it's like shadowed underhood.

SPEAKER_05 1:57:28

Sure. I will say that that will impact the DC, but not give you advantage.

SPEAKER_04 1:57:33

I'll take it. I'm gonna give myself Bardic inspiration. You can't. Oh, you can't. That's right.

SPEAKER_09 1:57:41

Wait, really?

SPEAKER_04 1:57:42

Yeah. That's ah dang. Well, um, I said I was gonna give myself Bardic inspiration. I could guidance you if you want. Nope, because that makes a visible casting. It's not necessary. I got a Nat 20 plus four for a time.

SPEAKER_05 1:57:57

Dang! Oh man, Victor's gonna keep things close to the chest for a little while. Can we get a full name?

SPEAKER_00 1:58:08

Terrace one really good role, and that's I'm content. I'm good. You gaze into this person, you gaze under the hood and you see their childhood memories.

SPEAKER_09 1:58:18

Like I hope you guys know by the way, I am channeling my own nervousness into Chris's innate fear right now. Chris is also kind of like backed up and is kind of like hiding behind Rook slightly.

SPEAKER_05 1:58:34

The figure looks at you, Rook. And I'll give you that net 20 here in a second, but the figure turns and looks at you. Looks at the apartment, starts to turn around. They never stepped foot over the threshold, only leaned against the doorway. They step back and they turn away.

SPEAKER_06 1:59:03

Oh detective. I am so excited for the days ahead.

SPEAKER_04 1:59:17

Like you said, names not particularly necessary. Most folks usually just know me by the smell of the smoke. Keep that in mind.

SPEAKER_06 1:59:28

Where there's smoke, there's fire, detective. Consider your case closed.

SPEAKER_05 1:59:38

And as she walks around the corner, her hand lingers on the edge of the doorway, and you see on her wrist a tattoo of a ship's wheel. And Phyllis Brint walks down the hallway and out of your life for the time being.

SPEAKER_10 2:00:18

The Drifting City is a production of the Rolling Waves, a group of friends who wanted to make a creative project together. Your drifters are Lily Bell as Chris, Aspen Langford as Moran, Porter Hurst as Orion, Victor Thorne as Rook, Marilyn David as Valentine, and Ray Hamilton as the narrator. Editing and sound design by everyone at the Rolling Waves. Episode titles and descriptions by everyone at the Rolling Waves. Music, sound effect, class, subclass, and other credits can be found in the episode description. Thank you for listening to our story. And that's for today's episode.

SPEAKER_04 2:01:11

I beg your finest pardon.

SPEAKER_09 2:01:13

I beg your most exquisite pardon for me shock.